Idea

In September 2019, in Wrocław there will be held the next, 17th Polish Sociological Congress, co-organized by the Polish Sociological Association and the Institute of Sociology, University of Wrocław. After thirty-three years, it will have been the second time that the city is hosting sociologists from Poland and from abroad. This time the meeting is going to be held under the theme: “Me, Us, Them? Subjectivity, Identity, Belonging”.

This theme is all-embracing and its power derives from it being addressed directly to everyone and on many levels. It refers to individuals who are not alone in their everyday relations, and along with others constitute ‘Us’ – yet it should be underlined that the existence of ‘Me’ and ‘Us” is possible due to distinguishing – real or only imagined – ‘Them’ without whom description of the social world would be incomplete. Moreover, ‘Them’ is necessary to shape, by means of subjectivity, one’s own identity and determine one’s belonging. “Me. Us. Them?” offers a chance for reflection on one’s own position within the community, within social divisions, in the processes of local as well as a global character, in public life, in consumption and preferences for certain values. At the same time, subjectivity, identity, belonging constitute basic sociological categories without which it is hard to imagine carrying out research and analyses today.

Thus the Congress theme allows a new approach – to integration and conflicts, to capitals and values, to diverse faces of multiculturalism and the consequences of contemporary migrations, to struggle for social order and lifestyles, to the identity and condition of the Polish sociology, to the role played by sociologists in the contemporary world, to old and new social problems, to de-bordering and re-bordering of various kinds, to the complexity of the contemporary world. The organizers are convinced that the Congress participants and institutions engaged in supporting the events essentially and organizationally will put forward some other proposals exceeding the scope mentioned above. It will confirm the theme’s inspiring function and contribute to the success of the 17th Polish Sociological Congress in Wrocław.